1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to upright piano actions, or more specifically the mechanisms in upright pianos that transmit motion from a piano player's fingers into motion of a hammer, located inside the piano, causing the hammer to strike a piano string, thereby producing sound or music from the piano. In every piano, there is a separate piano action and hammer corresponding to each piano key, where there are typically 88 keys in a piano. All piano actions and the hammers must be fastened to a stationary “rail” inside the piano in order to allow for proper motion of the piano action's subcomponents and cycling of the piano action. There is more than one rail in an upright piano, including the damper spring rail, the hammer rail, the main action rail, the let-off rail, the sticker rail, capstan rail, the balance rail, and the front rail. Typically, all rails run horizontally across the width of the piano, parallel to the row of piano keys on the piano. This invention deals with the “main action rail” of an upright piano.
2. Description of Related Art
Prior art main action rails for upright pianos include a design with whippen flange screw holes located on the rear or back of the piano action, where rear or back is defined as the side opposite the piano keys. With prior art main actions rails, the whippen flange screws are only accessible from the rear of the piano.
This poses a huge problem for piano technicians for logistical reasons because a great deal of work is required to gain access to the whippen flange screw located at the rear of the piano action. Periodically, for proper maintenance of the piano, replacement or repair of piano action subcomponents is required, thereby requiring the removal of whippens and whippen flanges from the piano.
To remedy this, the main action rail for upright piano of this invention includes a design with the whippen mounting holes located on the front of the main action rail, thereby providing front-access to all whippen flange screws, thereby greatly reducing the work required for technicians to remove the whippen assembly.